This invention relates to flexible paneling, and, more particularly, to reinforced flexible paneling.
Flexible paneling has a wide variety of uses. It is often employed as a cover for cabinets, particularly for cabinets used in close quarters where access to the cabinet is achieved by sliding the cover, or by elevating it without having the panel leave the confines of the structure with which it is associated. In such a case the paneling must have sufficient flexibility that it can traverse curved contours and adopt the interior configuration of the cabinet. In addition, flexible paneling of this kind requires reinforcement in order to maintain a suitable panel effect when it is in a closed position.
In addition, it is desirable for the paneling to be light and have substantial strength. It has been found that many plastics materials provide suitable reduction in weight, but are difficult to reinforce. One technique is to extrude plastics material into sheeting of prescribed thickness and then apply a reinforcing hinge at spaced intervals on the face of the sheeting by camming the sheeting with steel dies.
The disadvantage of reinforcements produced by hinging and my using die members is that the hinge presents a point of weakness where a rupture typically occurs after the reinforced sheeting has been in appreciable services.
One attempt to overcome the difficulties encountered with impressed panel hinges is to reinforce the panel at the hinge position using additional material. This signficantly complicates the manufacting process without appreciably increasing the wearability of the product. Although panels with reinforced hinges demonstrate additional wearability, the increased wear effect is not commensurate with the complications and added cost associated with that kind of production process.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to facilitate the production of flexible, reinforced paneling.
It is another object of the invention to achieve flexible, reinforced paneling that is both light in weight and demonstrates an increase in tensile strength for a prescribed cross-sectional area.
Another object of the invention is to achieve extrudable paneling which does not require hinging or camming in order to become reinforced. A related object is to achieve paneling of greater flexibility, wearability, and strength than can be achieved by the extrusion of panels and their subsequent hinging.
Still another object of the invention is to avoid the need for supplemental reinforcement of flexible paneling produced by extrusion.
A yet further object of the invention is to eliminate the need for external reinforcement of paneling produced by extrusion.